November 30th.

It's another Friday, and "Speeding YOYO" has been released to its fourth issue, and the plot has gradually entered the main topic, attracting more and more people. Yo-yos in the Xiangjiang area have also become completely popular like those in North America, and you can see people playing with yo-yos everywhere on the streets.

"Go Boy" has also been released to the ninth issue, and the plot has developed to a climax, and the students talk about how powerful the world is all day long, and even set off a Go fever among the students. However, it comes and goes quickly, and something like Go, which requires a lot of time to practice, is still too boring for most people, and only a small number of people stick to it.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, all the senior management, editors and cartoonists under the Phoenix Publishing House have gathered. Because of the large number of people, the seats in the conference room were completely unseated, and many people had to move some plastic stools to sit behind the formal seats.

"Editor Zhang, do you know what's going on today, why are so many people here?"

A cartoonist asked the editor sitting next to him.

"I don't know, I've been here for so long, and it's the first time I've seen such a big battle. ”

The editor was also very puzzled about what the publishing house had to do to gather so many people.

At this time, a person walked in, and said as he walked, "Here, here, the boss is here, all quiet down." ”

Wu Ming pushed open the door of the conference room and walked in first, followed by the president Zhang Dexin, the current editor-in-chief of the Phoenix Society, Shangguan Xiaobao, and the former editor-in-chief of the Phoenix Society, and Hu Junguo, the current deputy editor-in-chief of the Phoenix Society.

Wu Ming stood in front of the main seat, glanced down, and saw that everyone had already pricked up their ears and waited for him to speak, and spoke.

"You may wonder why so many people are being called for a meeting today. It's because I'm going to change the way we distribute comics from the Order of the Phoenix to the future, and the way cartoonists draw. ”

As soon as this remark came out, there was a lot of discussion below, all of which were strange how to change the distribution method of comics, and the current way of drawing is not very good, is it necessary to change?

"In the future, we at the Order of the Phoenix will learn from our counterparts in the island country, and the comics will no longer be serialized in a single book, but will be published in a comic magazine and serialized in the magazine. Only those with good comics can issue a single book, and those with poor comics are naturally not eligible to issue a single book. At the same time, the previous assembly line creation was eliminated, and the master-apprentice system was not engaged, but replaced with a small workshop-style creation like that of the island country. ”

The reason why Wu Ming wants to issue magazines to serialize comics like the comic publishing industry in island countries is naturally because he sees the disadvantages of Hong Kong comics today.

In the 80s, the Hong Kong comics of the previous life quickly became popular with fast-paced stories, hot and exciting scenes, and characters with clear grievances, in addition to occupying almost the entire Hong Kong comic market, and its influence radiated to Southeast Asia, vaguely competing with Japanese comics and American comics.

However, since the beginning of the new century, the once glorious Hong Kong Marvel is no longer there, not only the base camp Hong Kong has been captured by Japanese comics, but creative talents are facing the dilemma of lack of talent. The sales of some Hong Kong comics' masterpieces have dropped from 200,000 at their peak to 40,000, or even less.

And the reason why Hong Kong Man will fall into that kind of field in the future can be said to be the bane planted at this time.

Different from the small workshop-style creation of a cartoonist with several assistants in Riman,Hong Kong comics from creativity、Composition、Drawing scripts to coloring、Filler and distribution,It's often a team job,Everyone has a clear division of labor,Gradually transmitted,It's called "assembly line operation"。 Although this mode can maximize the quality and speed of comic creation, it loses personal style, which is equivalent to everyone dancing in a fixed circle.

This makes most of the styles of Hong Kong comics consistent, all of which are cookie-cutter martial arts comics. Of course, Hong Kong comics directly exclude this part of the female group, and even if the boys like martial arts, they will feel monotonous and boring if they watch too much.

At the same time, because Gangman adopts an assembly line factory-style creative model, the phenomenon of seniority is very serious. When a newcomer enters the company, no matter what his ability and talent are, he has to become an apprentice of the main comic writer, starting from the very basics, and doing this for several years or even more than ten years. Unlike their counterparts in island countries, the time as an assistant is only a short year or two, after which it can be serialized.

This kind of unspoken rule of the industry that ranks seniority has greatly hurt the creative enthusiasm of young cartoonists, and there are very few people who can get ahead. The consequence of this situation is that there is a shortage of talents, and the fault line is serious. It is normal for Hong Kong to decline in the future, and if it does not decline, there is no reason.

The Phoenix Society is now the top spot in the Xiangjiang comics industry, and Wu Ming naturally will not watch his comic club go to the abyss, so he will learn from the advanced systems of his counterparts in the island countries.

"Boss, I'm against it. Jin Tianxing, an editor-in-chief of the Order of the Phoenix, objected, "Xiangjiang used to publish comic magazines like island countries, but in the end they all failed, which shows that we in Xiangjiang are not suitable for this kind of distribution." ”

Another editor-in-chief, Kuang Chengxin, also objected: "Boss, you can ask Editor-in-Chief Kuang, he has also published comic magazines and comic newspapers, and has done several things that the boss wants to do, but it has not been successful." We don't have to do anything that is bound to fail. ”

"yes, boss. Only a single book is suitable for our publishing house, you can't just go your own way. ”

"Only assembly line creation can ensure the quality and speed of the creation of our Phoenix Society comics, and it can't be changed. If the boss wants to change, we will have to leave the publishing house. ”

Others, seeing that someone was taking the lead, also expressed their opposition. Especially those cartoonists, most of them have vested interests, and they used to be in charge of the appointment, dismissal, and promotion of their apprentices, and they have the final say on whether there is a chance to serialize. If, as Wu Ming said, it becomes the same as the island country, and their apprentices will not all have to run away.

Wu Ming was furious when he saw this noisy scene and yelled.

"Okay, give me all the silence!"

All of a sudden, everyone fell silent.

Wu Ming narrowed his eyes, glanced at the group, smiled, and said, "All those who agree raise their hands." ”

Only a dozen or so people raised their hands, including Zhang Dexin, a few energetic editors-in-chief and cartoonists, as well as Shangguan Xiaobao and a few of his apprentices.

Shangguan Xiaobao, the master, is still doing a good job, and he doesn't squeeze his apprentices like most cartoonists and don't teach skills, otherwise he wouldn't have engaged in any comic newspapers, magazines and other serialization platforms.

And his apprentices have such masters, so they naturally support Wu Ming's idea.

Wu Ming saw that only so few people agreed with him, and he was not angry, and continued: "All those who oppose it raise their hands. ”

Suddenly, a large piece of palm was raised. Compared to those who agree, those who oppose it can be said to be outnumbered. Some of them are worried that they will fail, and some are worried that their own interests will be damaged.

Some cartoonists began to sneer, and they didn't believe that Wu Ming would go his own way. You must know that this time is different from before, in the past, Wu Ming was only his business. There are so many people who oppose it this time, if he engages in dictatorship, isn't he afraid that they will all change jobs, and the Order of the Phoenix will only be an empty shell.

Obviously, these people didn't realize that the Order of the Phoenix had always relied on Wu Ming's comics to make money, and later added Shangguan Xiaobao, and they couldn't compare to the two of them combined. Maybe they also know it in their hearts, but they just don't want to admit the truth, so many people are not as good as a little ghost head together.

Wu Ming showed a sharp look in his eyes, the tiger is not threatening, you still treat me as a hello kitty.

"Since you're all against it, you can leave our Order of the Phoenix. Our small temple of the Order of the Phoenix can't keep so many of your gods. I still don't believe that without you, I Wu Ming wouldn't be able to do anything. ”

Hearing Wu Ming throw down such a cruel sentence, those editors panicked. They don't make money by squeezing their apprentices like those cartoonists, and they said that they just because of their relationship with the cartoonists they are responsible for, or because they are worried that they will fail.

The treatment of the Order of the Phoenix has always been the first in the industry, how good it is to stay here. They didn't want to leave the Order of the Phoenix, move to another publishing house, and get a much smaller salary than they do now.

So these editors have taken a stand.

"Boss, we won't leave the Order of the Phoenix, we were just worried that we would fail, since you must do this, boss, we will also seriously carry out your plan. ”

"yes, boss. We are loyal to the Order of the Phoenix, don't drive us away!"

Wu Ming nodded with satisfaction, and said with a cheerful smile: "Don't worry, if you don't want to leave, I naturally won't drive you." ”

Then he looked at the cartoonists.

"As for you, do you want to stay and follow my orders or leave? ”

These cartoonists are also a little hesitant, to be honest, the treatment in the Order of the Phoenix is still relatively good. In the past, the old cartoonists of the Order of the Phoenix became more and more famous because of the Order of the Phoenix, and their manga sales also increased a lot. And the cartoonists who merged from the Holy Flame Publishing House also have a much higher salary than before because of Wu Ming's wealth.

One of the cartoonists stood up and said angrily: "If you don't keep your master here, you have a place to keep your master, and your Phoenix Society will not have a good result if you do this, so I will go to Yulang International." ”

As he spoke, he turned to look at the cartoonists beside him.

"Do you still want to stay here, this Xiangjiang is not the only publishing house. Yulang International is no worse than him Phoenix Society, if there is our batch of reinforcements, I am afraid that Yulang International will not be able to fight him Phoenix Society. ”

After his agitation, these cartoonists were really in a commotion, and then saw that Wu Ming had no intention of retaining at all, and some editors wanted to keep Wu Ming but were stopped by Wu Ming, and they all immediately made up their minds.

In the end, four-fifths of the cartoonists walked out of the conference room and left Phoenix.